Rules are rules , and we have to stick to them . There are always people who go from the point of view that " rules are made to be broken " , and they will then go out of their ways just to prove that the whole world is wrong . This is the same as saying that it is safe to go on an aircraft , and to ignore the rules by not fastening your seatbelt during take-off and landing . But in the case of air travel , the aircraft staff make sure that you obey the rules , otherwise they take you off the plane Sure , I have travelled by air many many times , and never did the plane fall out of the sky ( ) , and they say that travelling by air is safer than to travel by motorcar , but still we obey the safety rules . So why do we get people in places such as Kruger who have an attitude of " never happened to me , and never will happen either " .

Tread softly , and let your departure not be spoiled by the damage of your arrival

I do agree with most off you. I hust want to make another point that must people forget!

These type of rules are not just for the safety of humans BUT for the safety of the animals aswell.

To explain:You drive in the park and your roof is down or you get out of your car at a sighting of a lion or leopard. The animal attacks you and hurt or kill you. Now what is going to happen to the animal??? The animal are starting to see humans as a easy target and at the end the animal will have to be put down. And that is , for me , is unacceptible!!!!

So in my point of veiw this rules are there for the protection of humans and animals alike

My take, sunroofs are in my opinion pretty much the same as the car window. Close it when needed, eg. when the big male baboon jumps on the car's bonnet. I surely hope there is not a rule against an open sunroof, apart from your head sticking out of it.

Pros1) You are closer to nature2) Better view.3) You can feel the wind through your hair and the sun on your skin.4) Easier to take pics.

Cons1) You are more vulnerable to an attack.2) The sun may burn the living daylights out of you.3) Your aircon will be useless.4) On the dirt roads, your fancy Porsche will collect tons of dust.5) The gallery of shame has your name and number.

Bennievis - way back , I think around 1990 , we went to KNP in a Mercedes with sunroof , and drove around in it fully open . We thought it was great to " pop up " at sightings ( there , I even admit we transgressed the rules , but .. we were somewhat ignorant ) I do recall however , that at one of the camps , ( I think LS ) , a ranger told us that it was not allowed to drive with the runroof fully open except tilted up We will wait now for official ruling

Tread softly , and let your departure not be spoiled by the damage of your arrival

It has already been discussed at length altho the type of car referred to was more of the T roof type.but to add to it, it seems there is no specific rule that says cabriolet type vehicles with the top on may not enter the park but it appears that the same rules would apply as per a sunroof, i.e. where you may not protrude any part of your body out of it, so in effect if they took the top off they would be breaking the rules. I would think SANparks have not even considered that anyone in such a low slung car would be silly enough to drive around with the top completely off thereby exposing themselves to all sorts of dangers but it seems there are!

Thank you to all the concerned forumites. SANParks has no formal rule regarding "topless cars" such as cabriolets and coupes but would like to stress that roofs cannot be open while travelling around the park as body parts will then be protruding from the car and this is a fineable offense and can lead to injury or even death.

Rooies wrote:Not all animals have killed a human are put down. If the animal becomes a problem, then it will be killed. To me it is the visual pollution that bothers. If everybody sit on roofs, lean out of the window or drive topless, it will resemble a University rag procession, which will negatively affect my enjoyment of Kruger. I am a regular visitor to a private non commercial reserve on the edge of Kruger, and there we travel on an OSV without a roof, side panels and with the windscreen folded down. Mating lions came to within 10 yards from us without even looking at us.

Fully understand how you feel The difference between a "Univesity rag procession" and your enjoyment in an open vehicle in a private reserve is the fact that the driver of your vehicle is specifically trained for his job at hand, whilst visitors like you mentioned above clearly does not know how to behave at these type or for that matter any type of sighting .

Although one have to sign an imdemnity form when entering the park, as a result of visitors own actions, will it not be obliging for a prospective visitor to sign a form when you make your booking with clear instructions of how to behave when entering the park and the consequences (such as banned for life from all parks) for non-aderens

Riaanf31 wrote:When all is said and done, would it not be easier to amend the rules for clarity sake? Make cabriolets a banned vehicle for KNP. This would simplify the job at the gates, in the park to police etc.

That would be like trying to re-invent the wheel Good grief , it is already difficult enough just trying to convince people that its round , and generally works well in locomotive industry

Tread softly , and let your departure not be spoiled by the damage of your arrival